He announced that Sohail Mahmood would be taking over as foreign secretary
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Sunday, 31 March 2019
Govt taking revolutionary steps in health sector, says minister
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Health Amir Mehmood Kiani on Sunday said the facility of ‘Sehat Insaf Card’ has been extended to all parts of the country.
Speaking to the media after his visit to the under-construction Mother and Child Hospital and Urology Hospital in Rawalpindi, he said eight million people living below the poverty line across the country will benefit from free medical facility under the PTI government’s Sehat Insaf Card Program.
The minister said the government is taking revolutionary steps in health sector and their fruits are also reaching people. He said efforts are being made to improve performance of government hospitals under the direction of the Prime Minister.
Read Also: “Ehsas”, “Sehat Insaf Card” programs to extend in Sindh: PM Khan
Amir Mehmood Kiani said health sector was ignored in the past. He said no society can progress without spending on health and education. He committed that the government will remove the deprivations of people they having facing for over seventy years.
He inspected the construction work on the two hospitals.
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The Criminal Investigations That Sprouted From Mueller
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The ‘Blue Prince of Montmartre,’ at 87, Still Rules Parisian Demimonde
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Why Elizabeth Warren, a Presumed Front-Runner, Trails Her Rivals in Fund-Raising
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‘Breaches Everywhere’: Midwest Levees Burst, and Tough Questions Follow
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Bret Easton Ellis Has Calmed Down. He Thinks You Should, Too.
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Model with alopecia wants people to embrace differences
Caitlin Leigh says fashion is for everyone after becoming a model since her alopecia diagnosis.
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Cell phone sculpture highlights China e-waste problem
A Chinese artist on Saturday unveiled a sculpture made of discarded mobile phones and shaped like a cell tower in a bid to highlight the problem of electronic waste.
The phones were rigged to a metal frame and synchronised so their screens would flash in various colours.
“The inspiration of my tower comes from the Tower of Babel in the Bible,” artist Shen Bolun told AFP, referring to the origin story explaining why people speak different languages.
Displayed in a busy shopping mall in Beijing, the sculpture attracted scores of curious bystanders who stopped to take photos of the exhibit.
“I originally thought environmental protection is waste sorting, but I didn’t realise cellphones could be recycled and used again,” said primary school student Li Jiaxing, who was viewing the artwork with his mother.
“After seeing this tower, I decided to donate my old cellphone here to make use of its remaining value.”
China’s waste from computers, mobile phones, and other electronics will reach 15.4 million tonnes by 2020, said environmental group Greenpeace, which organised the display.
As a leading manufacturer and consumer of electronic goods, China was a logical place to launch an e-waste recycling and reduction campaign, the group said.
Old electronic devices contain large amounts of metal that have economic value, said Greenpeace project manager Jiang Zhuoshan.
“If these metals are recycled, we can reduce mining and damaging the environment,” she added.
But there are still many barriers — many are either unfamiliar with the recycling procedures or have privacy concerns about the prospect of someone else handling their personal devices.
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Picasso in I.Coast? A village tells of its brush with the artist
YAMOUSSOUKRO: “I’m sure! I tell you, he came. I saw him!” insists Soro Navaghi, keen to extinguish any doubts about Picasso’s visit to a small Ivorian village famed for its painted textiles.
Whether in tourist brochures or online, it is not unusual to find references to Picasso’s reputed visit to Fakaha, a remote village in northern Ivory Coast, some 650 kilometres (400 miles) from Abidjan, the economic capital.
French travel guide Petit Fute describes Fakaha as “internationally renowned” for its hand-spun cotton cloth which is painted by the Senufo people and that once “charmed a certain Picasso as he paid a discreet visit to the region at the turn of the century.”
A whole mythology has grown up around the question of Africa and Picasso, who never spoke of having been to Fakaha.
For the artist who once provocatively brushed off the subject, saying: “Negro art? Don’t know it” was also an ardent admirer and passionate collector of African art, who built up an impressive private collection.
Highlighting the resemblance between African sculpture and some of Picasso’s work, many art critics see the symbolism and imagery of Africa as one of his sources of inspiration.
One often-cited example is the striking similarity between an African Grebo mask and one of the faces in his 1907 work “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”.
“Whenever someone emphasised the influence of African art on the development of his own work, he would shrug his shoulders, annoyed at being reduced to that: although it is certain he was influenced by it from 1906 when he experienced his first (African) sculptures,” says Gilles Plazy, one of his biographers.
“Picasso used everything that came through his door and integrated it into the constant evolution of his artistic process,” he told AFP.
“He opened up new paths.”
Out of the bush, barefoot
For the several hundred residents of Fakaha, there is no question about where the celebrated Andalusian artist and sculptor found his inspiration, after stumbling upon their village some 15 km from the main road to Korhogo.
For decades, these local artists have been hard at work in open huts around a sandy track, where they can be found smearing earth-based pigments onto canvas.
Their dexterity is fascinating, their moves precise. Working with knives or sticks, they plunge their tools into the bowls of colour, quickly transforming the white cotton into a work of art covered with animal motifs and figures in masks.
And there is an element of Picasso in it, with a definite similarity between his works and those of the artists of Fakaha.
But is this just a random resemblance or creative coincidence? Or did Pablo Picasso actually see or even own one of the Fakaha canvases?
“I tell you, he came here. He was inspired by us,” repeats Soro Navaghi, aged in his 60s.
Picasso apparently broke down while driving to Korhogo, but set off on foot and eventually turned up in the village “bare chested and without shoes”, Navaghi says.
The artist stayed there for several days and even gave the villagers some advice, they say.
A Picasso self-portrait?
“It was him who taught us to use sponges and toothbrushes to be quicker and more precise,” says Silue Naganki, one of the artists who takes his inspiration from long-dead ancestors.
“Before him, we never used the frames either. It was him who advised us to paint the frames.”
Ducking into his house, Soro Navaghi comes up with the “ultimate proof” — a cotton canvas featuring Picasso himself.
The fabric is covered with multiple motifs of a bald, white man, sometimes wearing shorts, sometimes in a grass skirt, who is variously clutching a pencil or paintbrush or even some twigs.
A self-portrait by the master! Surely there can be no doubt, even for an amateur, that this is Picasso, proclaims Navaghi.
Attached to the canvas is a self-declared certificate of authenticity signed by a travel agent who attests to having witnessed the visit.
“Picasso came barefoot to Fakaha in 1968. He worked shirtless and without clothes,” says the document, a copy of the original which is kept in the village archives for safekeeping.
For biographer Plazy, the account would have delighted the eclectic painter, the idea of him visiting Fakaha “like a magician, and infusing the traditional local art with an invigorating breath of fresh air.
“That is a fantastic tale which would have pleased him very much,” he told AFP.
“There were a lot of stories about Pablo Picasso, and since he had a sense of humour, he would sometimes pretend some of them were true.”
End of his life
Picasso died in 1973 at the age of 91, and other villagers concede that his visit was probably earlier than 1968 given his age by then.
At that time, the world-renowned painter, in his mid-80s, would have walked 15 km through the bush, chancing upon a village with no electricity or running water and staying there several days.
And all this passing under the radar…
Even though Picasso continued working until his death, it certainly wasn’t only at the end of his life that African influences appear in his works.
But could he have been in Fakaha around the turn of the century, as travel guide Petit Fute suggests?
If there is no trace of Picasso’s visit, it is because he wanted it to be kept secret and not give away the fact that he had been inspired by Fakaha, a young villager says.
Picasso impersonator?
If he did make the journey, Picasso would have had to take a boat to Abidjan, then travel the remaining 1,000 km by road in scorching, dry conditions with little shade from the sun — an adventure more suited to an explorer.
Such an epic trip would have taken at least several months, and would likely have featured in one of his biographies.
Even so, the story retains an element of mysterious intrigue.
In a bid to seek expert input, AFP contacted the Picasso Museum in Paris, which declined to comment, then spoke with several of his biographers, who also refused to be pinned down.
One theory put forward by residents of the city of Korhogo is that it was a false Picasso — a man who clearly resembled the famed Spanish painter and fooled the villagers by pretending to be him.
But that also raises a question: why?
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Messi on-song as Barcelona down Espanyol
Attacker scores both goals in 2-0 Catalan derby win
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Manchester City down Fulham to regain Premier League top spot
Citizens clinch 2-0 win over The Cottagers
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My first Mother's Day without my mum
How do you cope on Mothering Sunday if you've recently lost your mum?
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Khokhar criticises PM for ‘targeting 18th Amendment’
LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s spokesperson Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Sunday criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan over his recent statement with regard to the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
Khokhar in a statement said the prime minister lately accepted that his target is the 18th constitutional amendment.
The motive behind bringing Imran Khan to power has been exposed, the PPP leader said, questioning the federation had not become bankrupt in the past decade since the passage of the 18th Amendment, how did it went bankrupt now?
PM Khan was leveling allegations to cover up his failures, adding economic situation has become an issue of the national sovereignty.\
Read Also: ‘Corruption in Sindh halted its prosperity’: PM Imran Khan
Addressing a rally at Khangarh in Ghotki on Saturday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said after the 18th Amendment, the federation has become bankrupt. He had said the center had to face fiscal shortfall to the tune of Rs600 billion due to debt servicing, federal transfers to the provinces and defences budget that leaves nothing for development.
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Bangladesh arrests owners of blaze-hit Dhaka tower
DHAKA: Police in Bangladesh said Sunday they had arrested the owners of an office tower in Dhaka that caught fire earlier this week, killing 26 people and renewing the country’s debate over lax safety standards.
The latest deadly blaze to hit Bangladesh’s congested capital tore through the 22-storey FR Tower on Thursday, leaving some of the hundreds trapped inside screaming for help as horrified onlookers massed outside.
Police said they had detained two men, S.M.H.I. Faruque and Tasvir Ul Islam — who is district leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — in the capital, after filing charges against them for criminal negligence.
“We arrested Faruque just after midnight. He is the 45 percent owner of the building. He also owns the land on which the building was constructed,” deputy commissioner Mashiur Rahman told AFP.
Senior police official Shahjahan Saju told AFP that Islam, who contested the parliamentary election in December and lost, was arrested at 11pm (1700 GMT) Saturday over allegations he owns part of the FR building — which authorities have said was extended illegally and lacked adequate fire safety measures.
Read More: Bangladesh building fire kills at least 70
Police said they were also looking for the owner of the construction firm which built the tower in the 1990s.
Some of those stuck inside the burning building, in the upmarket Banani commercial district, made it to safety by sliding down cables on the side of the building, but others took their chances and jumped in a bid to escape the smoke and heat.
Six people leaped to their deaths.
Firefighters backed by military specialists — some in helicopters — tackled the flames, lowering ropes to help people escape, while rescuers on long ladders smashed through windows.
The arrests came as a senior minister called the fire an act of murder amid growing public clamour for better building safety standards.
“Definitely this is murder. It is not an accident… Nobody will escape the law,” housing and public works minister Rezaul Karim told reporters on Friday.
Authorities have ordered an investigation into safety measures at the tower. Fire officials said the blaze-hit building lacked fire exits and sprinklers, while access to its emergency staircase was padlocked.
The city’s housing authority later said five upper floors in the building were illegally added without official permission.
According to a 2012 study by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, most high-rise buildings in 15-million-strong Dhaka have inadequate fire safety measures.
Experts said inspections of buildings in the city frequently found fire stairs blocked with stored goods and exit doors locked.
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Eiffel Tower goes dark for Earth Hour
PARIS: The Eiffel Tower was plunged into darkness late on Saturday as the city of Paris switched off the lights on its best-known tourist attraction to mark this year’s Earth Hour.
The global event, organized by environmental group WWF to push for action on climate change and other man-made threats to the planet, sees nearly 200 major landmarks around the world unplugged at 8:30 pm local time for its 13th annual edition.
They include New York’s Empire State Building, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil and the Sydney Opera House.
Ahead of the Eiffel Tower shutdown, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and junior environment minister Brune Poirson appeared at the foot of the 130-year-old edifice for a public discussion on global warming and declining biodiversity.
The annual Earth Hour has grown steadily since the first event in 2007 and is now marked in more than 180 countries and territories, according to its organizers.
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Another Indian MiG-27 fighter jet crashes in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur
NEW DELHI: India has lost its another aircraft as one more MiG-27 UPG fighter jet of Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Sirohi city of Rajasthan on Sunday morning, Indian media reported.
According to reports, the fighter jet was on a routine missing from Jodhpur which was crashed in Sirohi, about 180 kilometres away, NDTV reported.
However, no clarification was made for survival of the pilot so far. Further details of the crash are still undisclosed.
Read More: Two Indian fighter jets crash after collision in Bengaluru
On March 8, Indian Air Force (IAF)’s Soviet-era ground-attack aircraft MiG-21 had crashed in Rajasthan’s Bikaner during a ‘routine mission’.
According to Indian media reports, the plane that took off from Nal near Bikaner crashed after being hit by a bird, whereas the pilot ejected himself safely.
India has lost at least 8 war planes in the past one month, two of them were shot down by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in a recent engagement and a pilot Abhinandan was also taken into the custody.
Read more: Four killed in Indian chopper crash: navy
On February 27, former Indian air force (IAF)’s official Ram Parkash had confirmed that India had lost two MiG 21 jets and three of its pilots.
“We have lost our two jets and three pilots,” Parkash wrote in his tweet.
He further said in his tweet that the morale of the IAF was down and out after the heavy loss.
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'This is who I am': Three generations of transitions
Ten years after the first International Transgender Day of Visibility, trans people from different generations tell us their stories.
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Countries Want to Ban ‘Weaponized’ Social Media. What Would That Look Like?
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Jinnah Express train to begin its journey from Lahore today
KARACHI: The Pakistan Railways’ VIP category Jinnah Express will start its first journey from Lahore’s Cantt station at 3:00 pm, ARY News reported on Sunday.
The passenger train will comprise 12 air-conditioned business-class bogies equipped with television, internet, mobile charge and other facilities.
Passengers will be provided free meal including breakfast, lunch and dinner. PR has set railway fare from Lahore to Karachi up to Rs6500 per person (adult) and Rs4900 for children.
Earlier on March 30, Prime Minister Imran Khan had inaugurated non-stop Jinnah Express train and launched the renovation works at the Lahore Railway Station.
PM Khan thanked Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed for inviting him for the inauguration of the train. He paid tribute to the minister for uplifting Pakistan Railways.
Read More: PM Imran Khan inaugurates non-stop Jinnah Express train
Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Sheikh Rasheed were also present on this occasion.
Pakistan Railways had announced on March 25 to inaugurate a non-stop and most luxurious Jinnah Express passenger train between Karachi and Lahore from March 31.
The train will be comprised of 12 air-conditioned business coaches, two power plants and a dining car.
According to the spokesperson, railway fare of the train will be Rs7,000 (Adults) and Rs5,250 (Children). However, the fares were later reduced by the administration.
The train will make stopovers at Khanewal, Rohri and Hyderabad junctions. Passengers will be given the facility of free food and other services in the Jinnah Express.
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Air pollution hotspots in Europe
PARIS: Big cities beset with gridlocked traffic, major regions producing coal, pockets of heavy industry encased by mountains — Europe’s air pollution hotspots are clearly visible from space on most sunny weekdays.
All across the continent, tens of millions of people live and work in areas where average air pollution levels are well above the maximum limits recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
But the density and type of pollutants can vary from town to town, and sometimes from block to block, depending on whether one is next to an expressway or inside an urban island of leafy green.
That variability makes it nearly impossible to say with accuracy which of Europe’s cities have the most befouled air.
But it is possible to pick out hotspot regions, and rank urban areas by type of pollutant.
– Italy’s Po Valley –
On maps prepared by the European Environment Agency (EEA), Italy’s Po Valley is covered with a wide, stain-like blotch of air pollution from the Ligurian Sea in the west to the Adriatic, held in place by the towering Alps to the north.
Many cities in the valley have among Europe’s highest concentrations of dangerous microscopic particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, known as PM2.5.
The WHO says these should not exceed, on average, 10 microgrammes per cubic metre of air (10 mcg/m3) per year.
European Union standards are more lenient at 25 mcg/m3, and still several countries regularly overstep this red line.
PM2.5 is a top cause of premature deaths in the EU, some 391,000 in 2016 — 60,000 in Italy alone.
Turin and Milan, meanwhile, are also plagued by high levels of ozone and nitrogen oxides, produced mainly by petrol- and diesel-burning engines.
According to the Air Quality Life Index, maintained by researchers at the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, living in the Po Valley shaves half-a-year off one’s life expectancy.
– Poland’s coal country –
Another dark spot on Europe’s pollution map is southern Poland, dense with coal-fired power plants and wood-burning.
For PM2.5, Krakow was the second most congested city on the continent in 2016, with an average annual concentration of 38 mcg/m3, just ahead of Katowice.
By comparison, some areas of northern India and China are plagued with concentrations three times higher.
EAA figures for 2016 also show that Krakow and Katowice exceed the recommended annual limits of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone.
Meeting WHO standards for small particle air pollution would add up to 1.5 years to people’s lives in this region, the Air Quality Life Index shows.
– Big cities in general –
Virtually all major cities in Europe face seasonal pollution peaks or chronic air pollution due to non-electric road traffic.
According to Greenpeace, Sofia in Bulgaria boasted the highest levels of PM2.5 particulates in Europe in 2018, and placed 21st among all large cities in the world.
Close behind in the Greenpeace ranking — confirmed by EAA figures for 2016 — were Warsaw, Bucharest, Nicosia, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Paris and Vienna.
The high number of polluted cities in central Europe is directly linked to the continuing use of coal to generate electricity, experts say.
In western Europe, many cities have NO2 levels well in excess of EU-wide standards.
London tops the list, with an average annual concentration of 89 mcg/m3, followed by Paris (83), Stuttgart (82), Munich (80), Marseille (79), Lyon (71), Athens (70) and Rome (65).
– Southern Europe –
Even wind-swept southern Europe has not escaped high levels of air pollution, notably ozone, which is created by a chemical reaction — triggered by sunlight — between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds.
The highest levels are generally found along the Mediterranean in spring and summer, when hundreds of thousands of sun-seekers descend upon the region.
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Seven killed in blast at electronics factory in east China
BEIJING: An explosion at a electronics component manufacturer in east China on Sunday killed seven and injured five others, local authorities said.
The blast happened when a container for storing scrap metal burst into flames outside a factory in an export processing zone in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, the local government said on its official WeChat social media account.
“The cause of the accident outside Kunshan Waffer Technology Corp. Ltd. is still under investigation,” the statement said.
The fire from the storage unit spread to a nearby factory workshop, it added, while one of the five people injured was in a critical condition.
The incident comes barely a week after one of China’s worst recent industrial accidents, in which an explosion at a chemical plant in the same province killed 78 people and injured hundreds.
The powerful explosion in the eastern city of Yancheng toppled several buildings in the industrial park, blew out windows of nearby homes and even dented metal garage doors.
It prompted the State Council, China’s cabinet, to order a nationwide inspection of chemical firms including risk assessments to identify safety hazards.
Deadly industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced.
In November, a gas leak at a plant in the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou, which will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, killed 24 people and injured 21 others.
Leaked chloroethylene came in contact with a fire source causing the explosion, authorities said in a February report, which also claimed the Chinese chemical firm responsible for the accident had concealed information and misled investigators.
And in 2015, China saw one of its worst industrial accidents when giant chemical blasts in the northern port city of Tianjin killed at least 165 people.
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PIA begins preparations for its Hajj operations
300 flights will be operated
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Ashleigh Barty humbles Karolina Pliskova to win Miami Open
The Australian beats the Czech in the one-sided final
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Fawad Chaudhry responds Khursheed Shah’s allegations
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry, on Sunday responded Khursheed Shah’s allegations, saying that the politician’s played a bigger role in destroying national institutions.
In his latest Twitter message, Fawad Chaudhry said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader should remember his wrongdoings and stop selling Benazir and Bhutto’s names.
The information minister said that Shah has a bigger part in the destruction of institutions as he was the chairman of a committee which had stacked political appointments in past.
خورشیدشاہ اپنے کرتوتوں کو سامنے رکھتے ہوئے بے نظیراور بھٹو کو بیچنا بند کریں، اداروں کی تباھی میں سب سے بڑا حصہ خورشید شاہ کا ہے۔ یہ اس کمیٹی کے سربراہ تھےجنہوں نے اداروں میں میرٹ کے برعکس اور سیاسی بھرتیوں کا انبار لگا دیا جو دیمک اداروں کو لگی اس کا سب سے بڑا کیڑا خورشیدشاہ ہیں
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) March 31, 2019
Slamming the PPP leader, he continued that Khursheed Shah was the ‘biggest worm’ among termites which ate roots of the national institutions.
Earlier in the day, Syed Khursheed Shah, while severely criticising the PTI government, alleged the incumbent government is “a model of dictators”.
“The civilian dictator system has taken over in the country,” he said while addressing a public gathering in Pano Akil.
“I don’t accept that there is democracy in our country. They have ripped democracy into pieces,” Shah said.
Read More: Khursheed Shah vows resistance to any move to rename BISP
“Today, farmers and labourers are crying. Pakistan is going down,” he said, adding “when we come out against inflation they [the government] say we are saving ourselves but in fact we want to save Pakistan and the poor.”
Slamming the government’s decision to rename Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), he said he feared the government may also remove the father of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s image from currency notes.
“You can’t remove Benazir’s name from the hearts of people. This is a name of democracy, ” the PPP leader said. “They [government] are a bubble of water and will die down one day.”
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Sohail Mahmood named new foreign secretary
MULTAN: Pakistan’s High Commissioner in New Delhi Sohail Mahmood will become new Foreign Secretary of the country upon superannuation of incumbent Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua who is retiring next month.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made this announcement while speaking to the media in Multan.
“We’ve decided to appoint Sohail Mahmood as Foreign Secretary,” he said and added the decision has been taken in consultation with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The foreign minister said Sohail Mahmood will assume office upon superannuation of Tehmina Janjua on April 16.
“I want to pay tribute to Tehmina Janjua with whom I have been working for the last seven months,” he said, adding that he has learnt a lot from her. He said Sohail Mahmood had served in crucial positions, including as Pakistan’s envoy in Thailand and Turkey.
In a reference to the opposition’s criticism of the government over National Accountability Bureau (NAB) actions, Qureshi said NAB is not subservient to the government, therefore, they couldn’t interfere its affairs. The NAB enjoyed the right to conduct accountability of all, he added.
Speaking about the reported government decision to rename the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), he said he was not in favour of changing the name of the programme.
Defending the proposed increase in fuel prices for the month of April, he said prices of petroleum products were being increased to keep up their prices in the international market.
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Russia Ordered a Killing That Made No Sense. Then the Assassin Started Talking.
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ from NYT World https://ift.tt/2UkGulT
New York Agrees to Congestion Pricing and a Mansion Tax in $175 Billion Budget Deal
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Knife crime: More stop and search powers for police
Rules on searches without reasonable suspicion are being relaxed to tackle rising knife crime.
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Mark Zuckerberg asks governments to help control internet content
Mark Zuckerberg writes an open letter calling for new laws to monitor internet content.
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Comedian among Ukraine leadership hopefuls
Petro Poroshenko is seeking re-election but the surprise front-runner is comic Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
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Earth Hour: Switching off lights to highlight climate change
Some of the world's most famous landmarks are plunged into darkness to draw attention to climate change.
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Brexit: Theresa May considers next step to break deadlock
Theresa May is under pressure from some senior Brexiteers to rule out a customs union with the EU.
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More adults seeking support for alcoholic parents
Thousand more adults are seeking help in coping with an alcoholic parent every year, a charity says.
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Paul Gascoigne among Spurs legends in final test game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Paul Gascoigne, Jurgen Klinsmann & David Ginola played in Spurs' final test event at their new £1bn stadium before its official opening on Wednesday.
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North Korea says Madrid embassy raid was 'grave terror attack'
Pyongyang calls for an investigation and says it is watching rumours that the FBI played a role.
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Ethiopian Airlines crash: 'Pitch up, pitch up!'
Details are emerging of the final moments of the flight, which crashed six minutes after take-off.
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Why are university students catching mumps?
A poor vaccine uptake worldwide has led to an increase in mumps outbreaks, according to experts.
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Thai baby elephants cheered as they escape mud pit
Six baby elephants who were stuck in steep muddy pit for two days are rescued by Thai park rangers.
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Firefighters rescue hundreds of people stuck in toilets
London Fire Brigade has also rescued 17 children with their heads stuck in toilet seats.
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The Papers: Tory 'civil war' over snap election idea
Sunday papers suggest Theresa May faces a backlash if she calls a snap election amid the Brexit deadlock.
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Your pictures on the theme of 'sparkle'
Each week, we publish a gallery of readers' pictures on a set theme. This week it is "sparkle".
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The male body positive Instagram influencer who ditched his six pack
Stevie Blaine, aka bopo.boy, struggled with an obsession over his body shape before a dramatic switch.
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US-Mexico border: Migrants held as Trump threatens closure
Migrants are forced to sleep outside as US officials struggle with a surge in asylum-seekers.
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When Drake turns up at your local club
Drake fans are delighted as the rapper plays an intimate aftershow set at small Leicester nightclub Republic.
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Hall of Fame honour for UK band who conquered the US
Keyboardist and vocalist Rod Argent and fellow singer Colin Blunstone were at the ceremony in New York.
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Tornado chasers face storm as lawsuit hits close to home
A lawsuit claims reckless behaviour by storm chasers before a fatal crash. Is there a wider problem?
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Minimum wage: How high could the lowest salaries go?
The UK's lowest-paid workers are getting a pay rise - helping everyone from bar staff to carers.
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US school shootings: Have drills gone too far?
One school apparently shot teachers "execution style" with pellets as part of a rehearsal for the real thing.
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Is there an Austrian link to New Zealand mosque attacks?
The main suspect in the mosque massacre was familiar with Austria's far-right scene.
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How Village People's cop Victor Willis aims to 'reboot' the group
Victor Willis, the pop group's former singer and songwriter, has overcome legal battles and rehab.
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Lyft, Uber, Pinterest: Are internet unicorns really worth billions?
Lyft is the first tech company to float this year but the $24bn business is yet to make profit.
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Brexit: Will flights be disrupted?
The EU and UK have agreed a plan to try to avoid disruption.
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Huddersfield captain 'empty' after relegation - how much worse can it get for Terriers?
Huddersfield captain Christopher Schindler feels "empty" after the Terriers' relegation from the Premier League was confirmed by defeat at Crystal Palace.
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Australian bowlers deny ‘false’ Warner Test boycott reports
A newspaper had reported that four bowlers intended to pull out of the Test if Warner was not removed
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Mohsin Abbas Haider slams Lux Style Awards for ignoring Meri Guriya
The show explored the menace of child abuse in Pakistani society
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Multan voters head to the polls for by-election in PP-218
Six candidates are contesting the election
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Two killed after suspected terrorists open fire in Quetta
Two people were injured in the attack
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Facebook wanted to use bird-sized drones to give people better internet
The plan to give internet to people in remote areas was scrapped in mid-2018
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Amazon chief’s phone was hacked by Saudis: investigators
It was in retaliation for the Washington Post's coverage of Khashoggi's murder
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MQM-P leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan injured after accident near Karachi’s Toll Plaza
Three guards in the car with him were also injured, one critically
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Woman and her son die after drinking ‘poisonous’ tea in Rawalpindi
Husband and two other children hospitalised
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Lights out at PM office to observe Earth Hour
It is aimed at creating awareness for energy conservation
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ZAB Media Festival all set to kick off on April 2
It aims to celebrate and promote creativity among students aiming to join the media industry
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Mark Zuckerberg asks governments to help control internet content
Mark Zuckerberg writes an open letter calling for new laws to monitor internet content.
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Khursheed Shah calls PTI govt ‘dictators’ model’
SUKKUR: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah, while severely criticising the PTI government, said on Sunday the incumbent government is “a model of dictators”.
“The civilian dictator system has taken over in the country,” he said while addressing a public gathering in Pano Akil.
“I don’t accept that there is democracy in our country. They have ripped democracy into pieces,” Shah said.
“Today, farmers and labourers are crying. Pakistan is going down,” he said, adding “when we come out against inflation they [the government] say we are saving ourselves but in fact we want to save Pakistan and the poor.”
Slamming the government’s decision to rename Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), he said he feared the government may also remove the father of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s image from currency notes.
“You can’t remove Benazir’s name from the hearts of people. This is a name of democracy, ” the PPP leader said. “They [government] are a bubble of water and will die down one day.”
Read More: Khursheed Shah vows resistance to any move to rename BISP
The former opposition leader in the National Assembly earlier on March 30 said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would strongly oppose any move by the government to rename Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
He said Benazir Bhutto embraced ‘martyrdom’ for the sake of democracy and that the Bhutto dynasty ruled the hearts of people in the country.
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Hajj 2019: PIA commences preparation for special flight operations
ISLAMABAD: National flag-carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), has started preparations for special flight operations, ARY News reported on Sunday.
PIA will operate Boeing 777 and Airbus A320 aircraft during the phase-wise operations to facilitate 65,000 pilgrims in 300 special and scheduled flights.
The flights will be operated from major cities including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Sukkur and Quetta.
The national flag-carrier has set Rs100,000 fares per person for flights from Sindh and Balochistan and Rs110,000 from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
On March 12, Minister for Religious Affairs, Noorul Haq Qadri, had announced names of 112,526 successful applicants who will perform Hajj under the government scheme this year.
The minister announced that as many as 112,526 people would perform Hajj under the government scheme while 71,684 people will go for Hajj under private Hajj scheme. In total, 184,210 people will perform Hajj from Pakistan this year, he said.
Read More: Biometric verification of Hajj pilgrims to begin next week
The ballotting, he said, was performed on 90,924 applications whereas the rest of the applicants were selected on special criteria of age and unsuccessful past applications.
As many as 216,542 applicants had applied to perform Hajj on government quota which is comparatively cost-effective than packages offered by private operators.
Earlier on March 5, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had decided to temporarily add six narrow-body aircraft to its fleet from June become commencement of flight operations.
PIA administration released tenders for acquiring Airbus A-320 and 737 aircraft on wet lease for six months to facilitate uninterrupted operations for facilitating Hajj pilgrims.
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NA defence committee to visit GHQ on April 4
ISLAMABAD: Defence committee of the National Assembly (NA) will visit the General Headquarters (GHQ) on April 4 over the invitation of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ARY News reported.
The 21-member committee will be headed by its chairman Amjad Ali Khan. The members include Tahir Sadiq, Chaudhary Farrukh Altaf, Syed Faiz Ul Hassan, Muhammad Barjees Tahir, Ijaz Ahmad Shah, Riazul Haq, Muhammad Khan Daha, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, Alam Dad Laleka, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Ghous Bux Khan Mahar, Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, Aftab Shahban Mirani, Amer Ali Khan Magsi, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Aminul Haque, Salahuddin Ayubi, Rubina Irfan and Ramesh Kumar Vankwani.
The Army Chief will give a detailed briefing to the committee, comprising parliamentarians from the opposition as well, over the situation of Line of Control (LoC), Working Boundary and international borders.
The parliamentarians will be apprised regarding the military’s response over provocations by India in bordering areas.
Moreover, the Army Chief will take the defence committee into confidence over matters relating to the armed forces.
The committee will also pay a visit to Yadgar-e-Shuhada.
On February 27, an in-camera briefing to parliamentary leaders had been given over Indian aggression in Parliament House after two fighter jets of Indian Air Force (IAF) were shot down by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in bright day light over violation of Line of Control (LoC), and in a robust response, the PAF destroyed two aircraft of IAF inside Pakistani airspace.
The session was attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi from government side while opposition leaders including Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and others were also present.
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MQM-P leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan injured in road accident
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan got injured in a road accident near Karachi Toll Plaza in early hours on Sunday, ARY News reported.
MQM-P leader Amir Khan confirmed that Khawaja Izhar was returning home from Ghotki when his car met with the road mishap. As a result, he suffered head injuries and his three bodyguards were also wounded.
They were rushed to a private hospital at Stadium Road for medical attention. The condition of the MQM-P leader is said to be out of danger.
Upon being informed of the accident, a number of MQM-P leaders and workers reached the hospital.
Speaking to ARY News, MQM-P leader Sanjay Perwani said the accident occurred owing to a lack of a diversion sign on the motorway. He said Khawaja Izhar’s car, which was moving at full-throttle, skidded off the road, causing injuries to him and his guards.
He said Khawaja Izhar is out of danger and being treated at the hospital.
Earlier, in Sept 2017, Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan had escaped an assassination attempt but his security guard and passer-by lost his life in the ambush.
Read More: MQM’s Khawaja Izhar escapes assassination attempt, two killed
The assailants launched the attack when the MQM lawmaker, who was also the Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly at that time, was leaving a mosque after offering Eid-ul-Azha prayers in Buffer Zone area.
A teenager, said to be 14-year-old, lost his life alongside the security guard of Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan.
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Maleeha calls for measures to ensure UN peacekeepers’ security
NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi has stressed the need for ensuring security of UN peacekeepers operating in hot spots around the world.
Speaking at a meeting co-hosted by Pakistan at UN Headquarters here, she expressed concern over the increasing number of casualties suffered by United Nations peacekeeping missions operating in hot spots around the world.
This was the first meeting on triangular formula – training, capacity building, safety and security and performance – that comprised China, Egypt, Indonesia and Morocco.
Lodhi said peacekeepers be imparted necessary training, equipment and better health facilities on the ground to avoid fatalities in the face of security challenges faced by them.
Read Also: Maleeha Lodhi urges for joint efforts to achieve goals
She said 193 peacekeepers lost their lives in attacks, 117 in accidents, 231 as a result of illness and 69 were listed under other causes between the year 2014 and 2019.
The envoy said it is important for the troop and police contributing countries, the Security Council and the Secretariat to work together enabling better decision making related to planning of peacekeeping missions.
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PM condoles deaths in Bhakkar road accident
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday condoled the death of six female students in a road accident in Bhakkar.
“Terrible loss of young lives in the accident in Bhakkar which killed 6 girls returning from school & their rickshaw driver. My prayers & condolences go to the families of the victims,” he tweeted.
Terrible loss of young lives in the accident in Bhakkar which killed 6 girls returning from school & their rickshaw driver. My prayers & condolences go to the families of the victims.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 31, 2019
Earlier, on March 30, at least seven people, including six female students, died while two others suffered injuries when a speeding bus rammed into a rickshaw near Sarai Muhajir, Bhakkar.
According to police, the girls were on their way home after appearing in the examinations when the bus crashed into the rickshaw near a petrol pump in Sarai Muhajir. The deceased were identified as Iqra Rafiq, Sawera Shafiq, Ifat Ahmed, Mariyam Ashraf, Mehreen Yaqoob, Sobia Arshad, and rickshaw driver Imran.
Read Also: Seven girls, rickshaw driver, die as bus runs over rickshaw in Bhakkar
Two students identified as Sana Perveen and Sania Batool suffered wounds and were rushed to the DHQ Bhakkar from where Perveen was referred to the Nishter Hospital due to her critical condition.
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Rolling Stones cancel tour over Mick Jagger’s health
LONDON: British rock icon Mick Jagger said on Saturday he was “devastated” after his Rolling Stones were forced to cancel their United States and Canada tour dates so he could receive “medical treatment”.
“I really hate letting you down like this,” the 75-year-old wrote on his Twitter account, without specifying what treatment he was receiving.
“I’m devastated for having to postpone the tour but I will be working very hard to be back on stage as soon as I can.”
The rock legends earlier announced the cancellations, saying that they would reschedule the dates.
“Mick has been advised by doctors that he cannot go on tour at this time, as he needs medical treatment,” said the band’s official statement.
“The doctors have advised Mick that he is expected to make a complete recovery so that he can get back on stage as soon as possible.”
Jagger has eight children, five grand children and a great-granddaughter, but has maintained his energetic stage performances well into his 70s, playing Britain’s Glastonbury Festival in 2013.
The band, who formed in 1962, were due to play 17 shows in the US and Canada between April and June.
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Police bust 11 gangs of ‘robbers’ in Pakpattan
PAKPATTAN: Police claimed on Sunday to have arrested as many as 76 robbers, associated with eleven gangs, during raids in Pakpattan, ARY News reported.
According to police, snatched valuables worth over Rs15 million were recovered from their possession.
District Police Office (DPO) Pakpattan Maria Mehmood said 10 Kalashnikovs, 10 rifles, and 30 guns were also seized from the possession of the arrested suspects.
She said they were involved in criminal activities in different districts of the province.
Read Also: Police officials torture shopkeepers, guards of Lahore mall
Earlier on, Feb 2, a suspected robber was killed while his accomplice injured in an exchange of fire with police in Pakpattan. A police volunteer and a passerby were also injured in the shootout.
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Four killed as thousands protest at border, but Gaza-Israel truce holds
GAZA: Five rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel, prompting Israeli tanks to respond by firing on Hamas military posts early Sunday, hours after a massive Palestinian protest along the border between Israel and Gaza.
The rocket attack and Israeli response did not cause any casualties, according to the Israeli army and witnesses in Gaza.
The Israeli tanks fired at Hamas posts in the central Gaza Strip and east of Gaza City, witnesses said.
Tens of thousands of Gazans earlier gathered at the Israeli border to mark a year since protests and clashes erupted there, but fears of mass bloodshed were averted after late Egyptian-led negotiations.
Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, one during a demonstration ahead of the main rally and three 17-year-olds in clashes later Saturday, the health ministry in Gaza City said. Another 316 Gazans were wounded.
But fears of a repeat of similar protests and clashes to those that saw more than 60 Palestinians killed on May 14, when the United States transferred its Israel embassy to Jerusalem, did not materialise.
Israel deployed several thousand troops along the border, with the anniversary coming at a sensitive time ahead of its April 9 elections.
Egypt tried to mediate between Israel and Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas to rein in violence.
Hamas officials say an understanding was reached that would see Israel ease its crippling blockade of Gaza in exchange for the protests remaining calm.
Tens of thousands gathered at five protest points along the frontier but the vast majority stayed away from the border fence.
East of Gaza City, small groups of young men approached the fence and sought to break it multiple times but were forced back by Israeli tear gas and live fire.
The protesters threw stones at the Israeli soldiers.
An Egyptian security delegation visited the protest site east of Gaza City, as did Hamas leaders Ismail Haniya and Yahya Sinwar.
Israel’s army said around 40,000 “rioters and demonstrators” had gathered in spots throughout the border.
It said grenades and explosive devices were hurled at troops, who responded “in accordance with standard operating procedures”.
– Negotiated calm –
Protesters were marking the first anniversary of often violent weekly demonstrations in which around 200 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed.
At least 50 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza since the protests began, charity Save the Children said.
In the run-up to the anniversary, long-time mediator Egypt had shuttled back and forth in a bid to avoid major bloodshed.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim called Saturday’s protest “a very important message” that thousands had gathered “peacefully to raise their voice against aggression and the imposed siege on Gaza”.
He confirmed that Egypt had made progress towards a deal that media reports said would see Israel allow more Qatari aid into the strip and ease some restrictions.
In exchange Hamas would maintain calm at the border protests.
Khalil al-Hayya, another senior figure in the Islamist movement, said they were expecting to receive a timetable from Israel on Sunday. There was no Israeli comment on the alleged agreement.
Israel goes to the polls in a keenly contested general election on April 9 in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a stiff challenge from centrist former military chief Benny Gantz.
He is widely seen as wanting to avoid a major escalation, but has faced accusations of being soft on Hamas, including from former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, who resigned in November the day after an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire was agreed.
The anniversary came only days after another severe flare-up between Israel and Hamas, sparked by a rare long-range rocket strike from Gaza that struck north of Tel Aviv. An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire restored calm.
The demonstrators are calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land their families fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war that accompanied Israel’s creation.
Israel says any such mass return would spell the end of a Jewish state and that its actions have been necessary to defend the border.
It accuses Hamas of orchestrating violence, but its soldiers’ use of live fire has come under heavy criticism.
In February a United Nations probe said Israeli soldiers had intentionally fired on civilians in what could constitute war crimes.
Two million Palestinians live in impoverished Gaza, crammed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean.
Analysts highlight desperate living conditions and lack of freedom of movement as driving forces behind the protests.
Israel, which has fought three wars with Hamas, has blockaded the enclave for more than a decade, and Egypt often closes Gaza’s only other gateway to the outside world.
Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and others.
Many protesters over the past year have remained far back from the fence and demonstrated peacefully, but others have approached in numbers and clashed with soldiers.
Small groups have attached incendiary devices to balloons to float them over the border in an attempt to set fire to nearby Israeli homes and farmland.
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Karachi revitalization drive aims to remake Pakistan’s largest city
KARACHI: At a historic market commissioned by Queen Victoria in Pakistan’s southern metropolis of Karachi, third-generation spice seller Mohammad Shakeel Abbasi complains that a move to clear illegal encroachments has left poor shopkeepers jobless.
“My own business has been cut in half,” said Abbasi of the modernization drive ordered by the country’s Supreme Court in January to clean-up large swathes of the city’s historic center, which he says has driven away so many vendors that fewer people now visit the area.
“We need these changes for the country to move forward but it needs to be done properly,” he said, surrounded by barrels of mango pickle, chilli powder and turmeric at the stall his grandfather built more than 80 years ago.
The modernization of Karachi’s old downtown is one of a string of projects aimed at revitalizing Pakistan’s largest city and economic powerhouse, which has long been plagued by traffic congestion, water and electricity shortages and rampant crime.
But experts say the politicking by local parties and wrangling between different levels of government that have stalled Karachi’s growth for decades continue to hold back development.
Public transit programs, including a shiny new bus service and the revival of a long-closed inner city rail service, are among the projects stuck in the gridlock.
Both transport schemes have been held up awaiting authorization from Islamabad to invite bids to supply new buses and begin laying railways tracks, according to Sindh province’s Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah.
Muhammad Sualeh Faruqui, CEO of the federal development corporation in charge of the bus project that is expected to move 250,000 commuters daily, said an agreement between the provincial and federal government should be finalised soon.
But no movement has been made on the bus or rail projects since Reuters spoke to Faruqui in January.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the allocation of 162 billion rupees ($1.15 billion) for Karachi’s development, to be primarily spent on transport and sewage projects.
“We need to make a master plan for Karachi and define the limits of the city and whether it will expand beyond its current area,” Khan said.
CONGESTION CRISIS
In the 1960s, Karachi boasted the tallest building in South Asia, an operational inner-city rail service, vibrant nightlife, and booming tourism.
But more than 50 years later, the city’s infrastructure has failed to keep pace with a population that has sky-rocketed more than 300 percent, leaving many public services such as health, transport, and water either provided by an informal private sector or controlled by organized crime.
The city nevertheless remains key to Pakistan’s shaky economy, now on the verge of its 13th IMF bailout since the late 1980s, accounting for 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to World Bank figures.
“Improving Karachi’s efficiency and Karachi’s economy, improves Pakistan efficiency and Pakistan’s economy,” said former finance minister and Karachi resident Mifath Ismail. “It is the only port city in Pakistan and it’s the hub of all international trade.”
A study by the NED University of Engineering and Technology found that traffic congestion costs Karachi $2 billion annually. Data from the local municipal corporation showed more than 3 million motorcycles currently in use with 25,000 added each month.
CRIME AND NEGLECT
To be sure, efforts to revitalize Karachi have achieved some success, most notably in curbing the violent crime for which the city had become notorious.
In 2013, the national government of then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave free rein to the paramilitary Rangers for a sweeping crackdown on criminal gangs.
That, say police officials, saw the annual number of murders fall from more than 2,500 to fewer than 500 in the space of a year.
“If this had been achieved in the West, studies would have been carried out to replicate these results,” said senior police official Abdul Khalique Shaikh.
The falling crime rate has meant some upscale neighborhoods have seen a spike in new restaurants, from hipster burger joints to taco food trucks, alongside high-end retail outlets.
But decades of growing congestion and neglect have turned places such as the Saddar area, where the Empress Market is located, from a spot where all Karachiites once rubbed shoulders into a rundown shopping and business district avoided by the well-off.
The once fashionable part of town, now lined with crumbling colonial-era buildings, is a transport hub for nearly 20 million residents. Every day, an overcrowded network of private buses and vans cart thousands to and from work in the bustling downtown.
Shah, the provincial transport minister, blames delays in the rail and bus projects on the federal government, which he accuses of “playing political games”.
The federal information ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Karachi’s administration has been dominated for decades by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which has traditionally drawn support from the descendents of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India following partition in 1947, but had little following beyond the city.
The MQM was involved in bloody factional battles in the 1990s and 2000s and was accused by opponents of running the city like a mafia fiefdom, allegations it denied.
It has come under increasing pressure since the crime crackdown, which saw the party split into several factions. As a result, the city’s politics are now more competitive, but also more fragmented.
“There is no one taking ownership of Karachi,” the city’s MQM mayor Waseem Akhtar told Reuters, adding the city saw little return for the millions in revenue that went to provincial and federal governments. “From the Federal or Sindh government there is no seriousness.”
None of this is any comfort for Karachi’s long suffering commuters who are forced to trudge through hours of traffic on their daily commutes, as the city’s main traffic artery comes to a complete standstill during rush hours.
“With the non-serious attitude of all the parties involved, I don’t see the project taking off for the next two, three years,” a senior bureaucrat, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
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Virginia Fends Off Purdue and Naysayers to Reach the Final Four
By JOE DEPAOLO from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2FLnt4j
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